Kenemu

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Eric Mamajek, ASE Tech Team

---

Boat and Decans in tomb of Karakhamun  (CC BY Elena Pischikova and Miguel A. Molinero, in Lull 2018).

Kenemu

Asterism Info
Native	Knmw
Translation	crew
Position (2000)
Right ascension	290.4181661
Declination	-17.84719859
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Kenemu (3.93m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	Sgr

Kenemu (knmw), Crew, is an Egyptian constellation of three stars ρ¹ Sgr = 44 Sgr. (Stars of) Kenmu, 17th decan in Egyptian astral science, has its heliacal rise in month Peret, represented by a small group of stars around ρ¹ Sgr.

Concordance, Etymology, History

The Boat and its Crew, Wja and Kenemu, in the Book of Nut (Lull 2018)

Origin of Constellation

Decans of Wja+Knmw in the astronomical ceiling of Esna (Lull 2018).

Kenemu is the name of a decan (possibly form by several stars as its name indicate, the Crew) of the constellation Wia, The Boat, which is formed by several stars expanding from before the Red of the Prow (Antares) to the end of Sagittarius. It is sailing the Milky Way.  

identifications of Decans in Lull (2018)

Decan Star Clocks

Decan star clocks (also "diagonal star clocks") represent one of the earliest known systematic methods of stellar timekeeping, as they are preserved from the Middle Kingdom (2100-1800 BCE). During the night, the successive appearance of decans provided a way to divide the night into approximately twelve parts for the twelve hours of the night. These constellations shift successively, so that the Egyptian schema needs to be read diagonally: every ten days, another constellation is considered to rule the same hour, or in other words, each constellation (decan) rules a different hour depending on the time of the year. Hoffmann (2022) writes: "The pattern of this systematic shift of constellations through the hours of the day within a year is depicted on Egyptian diagonal star clocks, when the sequence of decans was observed in culmination instead of in rising (Symons 2007), leading to a reduction of deviations throughout the year."

• 
  Schema of Egyptian star clock in a coffin lid (CC BY Bettina Hoffmann).
• 
  Schema of Egyptian star clock: how it works (CC BY Bettina Hoffmann).
• 
  Diagonal star clock in coffins from the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (Coffin of Nacht, probably from Asyut, 11th/12th Dynasty): Hildesheim, Römer und Pelicäusmuseum.

Identification

Leitz (1995, 78) describes a graphical identification method for the decan constellations and says that he basically follows the identifications of Neugebauer and Parker (Astronomische Texte I, 97-100). Yet, on the following pages, Leitz (1995) gives his own arguments, always citing NP but occasionally giving alternatives.

Kenemu (knm) is the 13th decan and reads in Leitz (1995, 91):

Beim 13 Dekan ist der Fall ähnlich wie bei 12. [mḏd], die entsprechende Himmelsregion weist nur schwächere Sterne auf, u.U. ist der Dekanname auch als "der Dunkle" zu übersetzen. Eine mögliche Identifikation wäre λ Aquilae, ein Stern der Größe m = 3.4, der sich rund 4.°5 über dem Horizont befindet. Wesentlich weiter närdlich steht Unuk (α Serpentis), der bei einer Helligkeit von m = 2.7 ebenfalls in rund 4.°5 Höhe über dem Horizont zu finden ist.

In the case of the 13th decan, the situation is similar to that of the 12th [mḏd]; the corresponding region of the sky contains only fainter stars, and it is possible that the decan’s name might also be translated as ‘the Dark One’. One possible identification would be λ Aquilae, a star of magnitude m = 3.4, which lies approximately 4.5° above the horizon. Considerably further north lies Unuk (α Serpentis), which, with a magnitude of m = 2.7, can also be found at an altitude of approximately 4.5° above the horizon.

So, the previous identification by Leitz (1995, 91) who translates knm The Dark One, is actually a fairly bright star, although he interprets the term as a reference to fainter stars. His identification with λ Aql is refuted by Belmonte and Lull (2023), who also adopt another reading of the original hieroglyphs.

Lull (2018) dedicates an entire research paper to the discussion, cultural embedding and astronomical identification of Wia, The Boat, with Knmw, The Crew. He concludes on the identification of Knmw with the area between the stars ρ¹ Sgr (44 Sgr).

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

Constellations Wia + Kenmu on Nectanebo's sarcophagus (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, ÄM 7.)

Religion/ Tales/ Mythology

In ancient Egyptian cosmology, boats carried the sun god Ra, and the deceased pharaoh's soul on its journey through the afterlife. The WjA constellation symbolized these vital spiritual and solar voyages.

Therefore constellation is also engraved on the granite sarcophagus lid of Djehapimu, the Royal Audit Officer and a relative of King Nectanebo II (Nakhthorheb, Nḫt-Ḥr-Ḥbt), c. 346-332 BCE, granite, displayed in the exhibition of the Neues Museum Berlin, Germany.  

IAU WGSN star name discussion

The name was proposed to WGSN in 2025. As Kenemu means something as "crew", we are not sure if it would be appropriate for a single star. Juan Belmonte suggests to look for any pair of closing stars or a star which is multiple (not to the naked eye) in the area east of Kaus Australis, as in that case, it may suit. Yet, Belmonte and Lull (2023) and Lull (2018) both identify ρ¹ Sgr at 3.93 mag in V.

In 2026, the name "Kenemu" was proposed for the star ρ1 Sgr (Rho1 Sagittarii, 44 Sgr, HR 7340, HD 181577, HIP 95168), a spectral type A9IV star with apparent magnitude V=3.92 that lies 40 parsecs away. The star is a Delta Scuti variable star that varies at the ~0.04 magnitude level on a timescale of ~1.2 hours. The star has a mass approximately 1.9x that of the Sun, and a luminosity of approximately 31x the Sun, placing it about ~1.5 magnitudes brighter than the main sequence, and making it a post-main sequence star.

• 
  Heryibwia profile card (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
• 
  Heryibwia stick figure (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
• 
  Babylonian "River Boat" constellation: see Magur.
• 
  Kenemu profile card (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
• 
  Kenemu stick figure (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
• 
  Qedty profile card (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
• 
  Qedty stick figure (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).

Weblinks

• https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=rho01+Sgr

References

• References (general)